How to get a Mac, iPad, iPhone or iPod by Christmas

If you're planning on buying an Apple product as a gift for someone this Christmas, it's not too late yet. Here, we bring you Apple product order deadlines so you know the last date you can order a Mac, iPad, iPhone or iPod in order to get your hands on it by 24 December.

Christmas is rapidly approaching, and we've no doubt that many of you (like us) still haven't finished your gift shopping. Thankfully, if you're planning on buying an Apple product as a gift for someone this Christmas, it's not too late yet. Here, we bring you Apple product order deadlines so you know the last date you can order a Mac, iPad, iPhone or iPod in order to get your hands on it by 24 December.

Find out about all of the best Apple and tech deals, bargains, sales and offers in our Apple deals live blog.

How to get an iPhone, iPad, iPod or Mac online before Christmas

If you're after an iPhone, iPad, iPod, other Apple product or a standard Mac, Apple is this year offering free next day delivery for orders over £50. You'll need to place your order before 5pm GMT in order to get your delivery the next day.

If you order after 5pm, your delivery will arrive two business days later, so after 5pm on 22 December or before 5pm on 23 December should still get your Apple product to you before Christmas.

If you want your order to be engraved, you'll need to place your order before 3pm to get the next day delivery option.

Don't forget, though, that you'll need to be home in order to sign for the delivery. You can check the status of your order using Apple's Order Status service.

If it's tricky for you to be at home in order to accept your delivery, you can opt to have it delivered to a local pickup point, which will be different depending on where you live, or work. The pickup points are usually newsagents or local supermarkets. To find your nearest local pickup point, simply type in your postcode upon checkout.

It's worth noting that these rules don't apply to items that are not in stock, so you should check that the item you're ordering says 'in stock' before placing the order to prevent disappointment.

It'll also take longer if you're ordering a built-to-order Mac. Apple usually states 5-7 business days, so it's probably too late to order a customised Mac before Christmas.

At time of writing, the following items are NOT in stock on Apple's website and therefore are unlikely to be delivered in time for Christmas.

Other ways to get a Mac, iPad, iPhone or iPod by Christmas

Go to an Apple Store

If you live close to an Apple Store, you should be able to pick up most standard configurations of Apple devices, so if you leave the gift purchasing to the very last minute you might still be in luck if you head down to an Apple Store on Christmas Eve. Be warned, though, devices such as Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are in demand, so may run out of stock. Head to the store early to be in with a better chance of getting one.

Buy from a third-party Apple reseller

Don't forget that Apple's online store isn't the only place you can order an Apple product from. Below is a list of just some of the retailers that sell Macs, iPads, iPhones and iPods, many of which have next day delivery options available for last-minute purchases.

John Lewis sells iPads, Macs and iPods, and offers standard 5 day delivery for free, or next day delivery options.

Next day delivery is also on offer at Tesco, which sells iPads, iPhones, Macs, iPods and Apple TV.

Network providers like Three, Vodafone, EE and O2 offer iPads and iPhones, but they'll require a subscription to one of their contracts. There's also Carphone Warehouse for iOS devices.

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